Artell: "We Respect Pompey But Cannot Fear Them"

3 March 2017

Boss wants his players to use the great stage of Fratton Park to express themselves.

David Artell has great respect for Pompey boss Paul Cook as they prepare to go head-to-head at Fratton Park this weekend, but the Crewe Alexandra boss wants to crank up the pressure on the promotion favourites by achieving a positive result.

The Crewe Alexandra boss told the club’s official web-site: “When you are at the top of the league you probably approach things differently than someone who is towards the bottom. You tend not to worry too much about the opposition because you have the better players, who are used to getting results.

“At the bottom, you have to respect the opposition but not fear them. You come up with a plan to contain their threats, as well as concentrate on their weaknesses and where you can get some joy on the day.

“Portsmouth and Paul know they have to get promotion. That is the pressure they are under because that is what expected and their budget dictates that. That is a different type of pressure to us. We need the points to make sure we move away from the bottom places.

“We have to go there and express ourselves and crank up the pressure on them in front of their home crowd.

He added: “As a player you have to use it as fuel. You have to hear the noise and think wouldn’t it be great to go out there and keep them quiet by playing well. We should be embracing it and be thinking he we go.”